Deadliest religion ever?

[Crunchy]

In terms of killing people directly (raw body count) I'd guess it's Islam. "Islam has bloody borders" is a common truism and Islam still regularly wars among itself running up the body count int the current more populated era whereas Christianity was defanged quite a bit by secular government slowing their rate of massacre. 

Also, many people in the west here forget about the Islamic conquest of the Indian subcontinent and that is the biggest reason I'm guessing Islam has the highest body count. The genocide there went on from the 12th to 16th centuries and body count in that region alone may have reached 100 million to make Islam the "winner" of this macabre contest.

[SuperSentient]

Capitalism. My number one, still.

Capitalism is an economic system model (societal organization), not a religion.

[Silent Snob]

Capitalism. My number one, still.

Capitalism is an economic system model (societal organization), not a religion.

Ohhh, good Sir, why wouldn't it be some sort of a religion when it has soooo many believers and devotees during the ages? It also has a a deity called money-property-more-money'n'property-for-me.  And it is as old as ....(you name it). It has priests and prophets and churches too all over the world  at every corner called banks. And nobody is not a devotee to some degree.

It's not a mere cult. It's the real deal!

[SuperSentient]

Ohhh, good Sir, why wouldn't it be some sort of a religion when it has soooo many believers and devotees during the ages? It also has a a deity called money-property-more-money'n'property-for-me.  And it is as old as ....(you name it). It has priests and prophets and churches too all over the world  at every corner called banks. And nobody is not a devotee to some degree.

It's not a mere cult. It's the real deal!

That doesn't make it a religion, it is an economic system and ideology. Communism, Marxism, Liberalism, Conservatism, etc. wouldn't count as religions in themselves, because they are not. Same with capitalism, socialism, anarchism, etc.

[Cyberman]

Not every "-ism" is a religion just because it ends in -ism.

[Mr Greene]

Capitalism is an economic system model (societal organization), not a religion.

Ohhh, good Sir, why wouldn't it be some sort of a religion when it has soooo many believers and devotees during the ages? It also has a a deity called money-property-more-money'n'property-for-me.  And it is as old as ....(you name it). It has priests and prophets and churches too all over the world  at every corner called banks. And nobody is not a devotee to some degree.

It's not a mere cult. It's the real deal!

It's about 200-250 years old developing from the previous Mercantile economic model.

[SteveII]

Maybe I am just being pedantic here, but I really don't see how a religion can be deadly. That's like saying atheism is deadly due to the high body count of dictators like Stalin and Mao.

I agree with your point, but would add that to claim a religion is deadly, you would have to look at the religious teachings themselves to make a determination. Do the teachings promote violence? If not, the religion is not 'deadly' and any deaths that may have occurred in it's name should be laid at the feet of the people committing them.

[The Grand Nudger]

The deaths will be laid at the feet of the people who perpetrated them regardless.  Religions, like gods... don't go around doing shit.  Religious people do.

We always hear this refrain, from christers specifically. Not that any of you actually want to have the merits of your faith vis a vis it's teachings assessed, whatsoever. To my mind, it's a purile attempt to plead ones way away from other equally bloodthirsty abrahamic faiths, such as islam. I can understand, though. I really can. You don;t seem to be the kind of guy that would bury a motherfucker to his neck in sand. Your personal faith is probably all sorts of non-violent. You won;t have any easier a time explaining the disparity between your private faith, the public faith, and magic books than the common non-violent muslim, though.

[SteveII]

The deaths will be laid at the feet of the people who perpetrated them regardless.  Religions, like gods... don't go around doing shit.  Religious people do.

We always hear this refrain, from christers specifically.  Not that any of you actually want to have the merits of your faith vis a vis it's teachings assessed, whatsoever.  To my mind, it's a purile attempt to plead ones way away from other equally bloodthirsty abrahamic faiths, such as islam.  I can understand, though.  I really can.  You don;t seem to be the kind of guy that would bury a motherfucker to his neck in sand.  Your personal faith is probably all sorts of non-violent.  You won;t have any easier a time explaining the disparity between your private faith, the public faith, and magic books than the common non-violent muslim, though.

The NT, the New Covenant, cannot be construed to command violence of its adherents in any way--even in cases the OT would have called for a capital offense. So, there should be no difference between public and private faith (in that respect). 

I have read passages of the Koran that call for violence, so...apples and oranges.

[The Grand Nudger]

The NT, the New Covenant, cannot be construed to command violence of its adherents in any way--even in cases the OT would have called for a capital offense. So, there should be no difference between public and private faith (in that respect). 

I have read passages of the Koran that call for violence, so...apples and oranges.

You mean, if we ignore some violent parts outright, and pretend that other violent parts don't exist, then christianity doesn't seem as violent as islam..if we focus on the violent parts?  

Genius!